2024 :: week 30

July 21

Sister Benedict is always coming up with creative was to conduct singing time. This week she had us put away the chairs and set out blankets so we could "picnic" during the summer.

July 22

Elliott finished his Barnes & Noble summer reading challenge earlier this month and I finally got around to taking him to pick out his free book this week. Of course he chose the Big Nate. Elliott became an avid reader this past school year, which makes me so happy.

July 23

We had a picturesque evening at the Atomic Cowboy Tuesday night. Michelle texted and invited everyone because kids eat free on Tuesdays. We weren't planning to stay too late, but then the trivia started and the adults couldn't say no to that. The kids had a great time running around, playing the outdoor games and getting trucks to honk their horns. It was truly a magical summer night!

July 24

I have been wanting to visit the observation deck at City Hall in KCMO for awhile, but it has limited availability. It is only open Monday through Wednesday from 10-2p when weather permits, seasonally. We tried to go over spring break, but it was not open then. Wednesday the stars finally aligned and we got our change. It was pretty cool to see the city from this vantage point. We could see many landmarks--the KC Temple, Arrowhead and Kaufman Stadium, Union Station, City Market and Children's Mercy. On the way home we had a strange experience. I was driving behind a truck hauling a trailer that was filled with rolls of carpet. It was going slow so I passed it. A few seconds later the rolls of carpet started to roll off the trailer and across traffic. Every vehicle behind us had to stop. It was a little surreal watching it happen in our rearview mirror and having no cars behind us for a bit. I was definitely grateful to be spared damage to our van, and hope the cars behind us fared okay.

July 25

Lauren spent three days this week at a volleyball camp with friends CL, Allie, Ella, Cat & Brena. She had a good time playing volleyball and spending time with her friends. Thursday Miles, Elliott and I met the Allreds at the zoo and had a great time. It was quite hot and the boys had fun running through the misters placed around the zoo to help people cool off.

July 26

I love going to the pool in the evening. Elliott and his friends spent the evening walking around

July 27

Saturday night Will and Lauren had their pre-MAMA festival recital. Will and Lauren played a duet and Lauren also had a solo piece. Will was gone for too much of the month to do a solo piece as well. 

2024 :: week 27

June 30

Tina sent this picture and text from the cabin Sunday morning. "Walking around Silver Lake this morning. Much easier than yesterday--it's flat!" On Saturday they hiked to Lake Mary, which was a much longer and steeper. Elliott reports that while they were on the hikes they played "murder mysteries" where one person would make up a story and the other kids would guess elements of the story. Derek was particularly good at coming up with stories. The cabin is owned by Tina's sister Liz, but it used to owned by Gram Bennett (Tina's grandma). Tina would visit this same cabin with her grandmother and cousins when she was a child. At the cabin the kids played basketball with the indoor mini-hoop, Disney Lorcana (card game), and created funny stories about the old toys. They walked down to the creek and tried play with water guns that ended up being junk so they ended up trying to skip rocks. Each of the kids brought a movie to watch--Elliott took Little Rascals. While Elliott was living his best life at cousin camp the rest of us Johns spent the day driving home. It was a long day. Because of midwestern storms google maps told us some roads would be closed due to flooding, and to take the southern I-70 route home. This was a mistake. The traffic got very congested as we drove through Colorado and we passed through several storms across western Kansas. Meanwhile I-80 never closed. We stayed up very late the night before we left visiting with Meredith, so we got a late start and didn't arrive home until almost 2am.

July 1

We were excited to see that our deck was nearly complete when we got home! There are a few finishing touches, but it is now usable. There are a few It is a bit bigger than our old deck, and is made of composite material--no sanding and refinishing every few years to keep it looking nice.

July 2

Tony took Will, Jude & Adrian to the Royals game Tuesday night. It ended up being a marathon of a game due to a 2+ hour rain delay. Only the die hard fans stayed through the delay, and Tony and the boys can be counted in that group. Their diligence was rewarded twofold--they got to move down and sit very close and also they got vouchers to use at a future Royals game. The Royals did end up losing, but our boys had a fun time. There has been a lot of rain this week.

July 3

I didn't take many pictures Wednesday because we were still recovering from the trip. Miles has been a bit bored without Elliott to play with him. The big kids have been busy too. Both Will & Lauren had piano lessons, and Will worked at the pool. After weeks of cousin time, spending his day with mostly me was a bit of a letdown.

July 4

The happiest moment of our day was seeing Elliott walk off the plane! Tina said we could have Elliott fly home early July 4 before they headed up to Malad with the Maxfields and Matt, or a few days later after they come home. We decided we wanted Elliott back in time to spend the 4th with us. Anthony and I drove to airport to pick him up, but I went into the airport alone to pick him up while Anthony waited at the cell phone lot. Cousin Camp 2024 was the loudest, silliest, most self-entertained group ever--Adelaide, Millie, Derek, Nolan, Elliott &Brigham--and Elliott had a wonderful time. On the drive home we peppered him from questions about his time at cousin camp. He said his favorite memory was when Papa let him order an adult sized meal from Chick-fil-A (I usually make him get a kid's meal). In the afternoon we went to the pool for a bit. Then Uncle Matt put on a fireworks show in the parking lot of the pool. Due to the storms earlier in the week the city postponed the fireworks show to the evening. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and the kids had fun playing at the park after. The saddest moment of the day was when Miles fell off the playground at the park and hurt his arm very bad. It wasn't obviously broken, but was very tender to the touch.

July 5

Friday night we watched the fireworks at the golf course, per tradition. It was a little strange having the display the night after the 4th, but since it was Friday it worked out well. Earlier in the day I worked on getting the garage organized. I ordered new shelves that better use the space and Tony put them together for me. Between getting back to real life after our trip and then Tony getting both Thursday and Friday off of work, almost every day has felt like a Saturday.

     

July 6

Now that Will is mowing lawns like crazy our lawn mower is getting a lot of use. I bought a lawn mower tune up kit from Home Depot and TJ replaced the filter and changed the oil. It was surprisingly easy, though we initially put in too much oil and had to dump some out which was tricky.

2024 :: week 26

June 23

Sunday LMC families members began to leave Bennington. The Wilsons left in the morning and the Allreds after church. In the early evening Pepaw gave us a "family history tour" of Bennington and surrounding area. We drove past the Maple and Buttercup Fields where my dad owns land and stopped to see the area where my Grandma Crane was born 1917. We drove up into the beautiful Pine Canyon and walked to the Red Fern bus and to an overlook with a gorgeous view of the valley. We visited the cabin my grandpa built to homestead the land in the 1930s. We visited the Bennington cemetery and found the graves of my dad's paternal grandparents, parents and siblings that have passed, as well as his maternal grandfather and Miles Franklin Weaver--my great-great grandfather and father of my great-grandmother Idella (my middle name comes from her). Anthony and I loved all the family history, and hope our kids will remember what we saw too.

June 24

Monday morning we stopped at the Butch Cassidy Museum at the Bank of Montpelier. The Bank of Montpelier was established in 1891 as the first chartered bank in Idaho and became famous after Butch Cassidy and his Wild Bunch Gang robbed the bank on August 13, 1896. It is the only bank in the United States that was robbed by these infamous outlaws that is still standing.  The old building was restored to reflect the 1890s time frame and original elements and artifacts were preserved, though not in the same layout. The museum docent was very knowledgeable, though he seemed to be a big fan of "hearsay." The kids were good sports and agreed to pose for this picture. After the museum we headed down to American Fork. We made a pit stop in Logan and picked up In-n-Out for lunch. We agreed the burgers were pretty good, but the fries were just okay. We arrived at Nana & Papas around 3pm. That evening around 8:45 we walked to their neighbors home to witness moonflowers bloom. They were fascinating to watch!

June 25

Tuesday afternoon the Toms hosted our family and the Allreds for pizza and water fun. The Toms have an awesome blow up water slide and pool the kids enjoyed using. The adults visited on their patio while the kids cooled off and played. We feasted on Costco pizza, fruit and veggies. Then Trevor got out their snow cone machine and treated us all to dessert. Will helped grind the ice. It was great catching up with the Toms since we don't get to sese them as often. Madeline was born since our last visit to Utah seven months ago. She is very alert and happy, but rumor has it she isn't a great sleeper. While some of the younger kids were taking turns jumping on the trampoline in their basement Trevor let Elliott and Miles use his workout equipment. He coached Elliott and Miles on their form as they attempted to do sit-ups at an incline. 

June 26

Tuesday evening the Maxfields arrived from Oregon! Since none of our kids had ever been to Salt Lake, and it is shrinking at a concerning rate, we decided to drive up to Great Salt Lake State Park and float in it at least once. We were warned that there were a lot of bugs, and there--gnats!--and that because the water was so salty it would really hurt if it splashed in your eyes--it did! But everyone in the John family (besides Miles) successfully floated. The Maxfields floated as well. After our quick visit the the lake we drove the the Cottonwood Heights pool. We visited the pool back in 2022 after cousin camp and had a great time. It was the perfect way to spend the afternoon. 

June 27

Thursday was a very Harvey Fletcher themed BYU day. First we hiked the Y. Apparently Elliott told his Maxfield cousins that he had hiked the Y, and they were bummed they had never done it. Turns out Elliott had never done it either. When we hiked the Y back in 2016 with Will & Lauren, Elliott stayed back with Carly. How is the Y connected to Harvey Fletcher? Before the Y was originally whitewashed on the mountain in 1906, Harvey was one of three BYU students in the Junior Class that surveyed the letters "B," "Y," and "U," on the side of the mountain. When class members assembled to begin the letters, they started with the "Y" to keep it centered. Students stood approximately 8 feet apart and created a human chain carrying buckets of lime, sand and rocks to construct the letters.  It took hours to create! Because it took so long the students never completed the other letters. I can testify that it is a very steep incline and not for the faint of heart.  When we hiked the ~1 mile trail Wednesday morning it really pushed me. Will called me when he was sitting on the Y and it took me another 15 minutes to get there.  After the hike we met Doug and Tina for lunch at the Creamery on 9th. After lunch Tina arranged for us to visit the anechoic chamber Harvey Fletcher built at BYU when he was a professor in the 1960s (after he retired from Bell Labs). It is inside the Eyring Science Center, so we walked across campus and marveled at what has changed and what hasn't. An anechoic chamber is used to study sounds. The walls, ceiling and floor of the room are covered in acoustical wedges that are held in place metal grates. When you walk into the room you walk on a wire floor that is several feet above the actual floor of the room. Being in the room is a lot like wearing noise cancelling headphones. We were in there for a few minutes and my ears adjusted to the muffled sound, but as soon as we walked out the cacophony of noises hit me. The BYU professor that gave us the tour is married to a friend that also grew up in the Lenexa Stake. We found Nana's name on the wall, listed with other BYU physics students throughout the years. After the tour we walked to the BYU Library and the enjoyed the hand-on Lego exhibit.

June 28

Thursday Elliott headed to Liz's cabin with Nana, Papa and the cousin camp crew. The rest of us went to the water park formerly known as Seven Peaks--Splash Summit--in Provo. Carly and her family had been at a family reunion with Daniel's side of the family until Thursday evening. Will, Lauren and Elliott were anxious to spend time with Sadie, Elise and Grant (Elliot and Millie were at cousin camp). Anthony and I got season passes to Seven Peaks in both 2006 and 2007, so it felt a little like coming home for us. We spent most of our time in the tadpole area with Miles, while Lauren and Will went down the various slides with cousins. We floated through the lazy river a few times for old times' sake. We stayed until closing, then headed to the Nielson's for dinner. We got Costco pizzas for the kids and ordered Costa Vida for the adults. It was such a gorgeous evening we hung out on the back porch after dinner. Will and Sadie challenged Anthony and Carly to an epic game of pickleball. The John adults do not go easy on their kids, and the kids will be better competitors for it, though they didn't seem to pleased in real time.

June 29

We were all pretty tired Saturday. I wanted us to have a relaxing day because we would be driving the entire way home the next day. I did some cleaning and prepping for the trip. Anthony, Meredith, Carly and kids went up to Harvey Park and played a lot of pickleball. That evening we got the kids Chick-fil-A and then the adults got tacos at Holy Taco in Orem. We finished the night with s'mores in the Nielson's backyard, visiting while the kids jumped on the trampoline, played "ghosts in the graveyard," and games of pickleball and pick-up basketball. I made the kids go to bed around 11pm while Anthony and I finished packing. We probably stayed up too late visiting with Meredith (considering we had a 17 hours drive ahead of us), but the late night chats with siblings are one of the most important parts of getting together. We had a great week in Utah!

2024 :: week 21

May 19

Sunday evening Anthony and I joined the John Family adults for a discussion about the book The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt. We had a good conversation about the various concerns we have for the increasingly digital/online world our kids are growing up in. We shared examples (both good and bad) of ways we've seen digital childhood (verses play-based childhood) affect our families, and tried to brainstorm ways to help our kids be as successful as possible in navigating this new frontier.  

May 20

Will enjoys plants and has been watching Creative Explained--a life hacks account--online and got the idea to attempt to grow blueberry, apple and strawberry plants from seeds. He has dutifully been watering them for the past few days and is hoping to see some sprouts soon.

May 21

Tuesday evening was Lauren's 6th Grade Promotion. It was a simple program, a few kids gave brief speeches, then each of the kids was recognized by their teachers. Lauren's soccer coach compiled a slideshow with both a baby and recent picture of each kid. The slideshow also highlighted the 8 sets of twins in their grade. The class of 2030 at OPC is made of up 94 kids! It is bigger than all the other grades by at least 20 kids. Afterwards there was a reception with cake and popcorn and lots of picture taking. Lauren has had a great experience as an OPC Husky. She has had wonderful teachers and made friends for life. 

May 22

Wednesday afternoon was Will's final band concert of the year. They scheduled it early--4:30pm!--because the gym gets really hot and the district graduations were happening that night. Anthony attended the concert for our family and for the first time had a good angle on Will. He could tell that Will was playing the correct notes. Their big finale was a compilation of Michael Jackson songs. Meanwhile, Elliott had a baseball game at 6pm. He played well, though his team lost by double digits. Lauren went swimming with her friends at Brena's house. Later that night I went up to the church for a "donation swap." Several ladies in the ward and I saved up our stuff that is still usable, but that we don't need anymore. We brought it to the church and then let the others "shop" our stuff. At the end of the night we loaded up the extras toys to donate to a daycare and the other stuff to be taken to Savers. After the boys were in bed Anthony met some friends to play pickleball. It was a busy night for the John family!

May 23

Thursday was Will's 8th grade recognition night held at the high school. Will and I went (Lauren had YW and this wasn't an event for Miles or Elliott). Will was recognized with a "certificate of scholarship," "Presidential Award," (awarded to students with a cumulative GPA above 3.75), and "Science Award," (awarded to students in the top 10% in the advanced science classes). Will is a great kid! All the time Anthony and I feel like he's spoiled us into thinking we are great parents because he makes parenting pretty easy. He knows who he is and is comfortable with himself. He has chosen great friends--his BFF since 1st grade was given one of two grade level awards for citizenship. After the ceremony Will and I went to CFA to get nuggets and I had such a great time with him. 

May 24

School is winding down, the weather is great and the kids have been spending a lot of time with friends at the park after school. I have enjoyed visiting with other parents and avoiding making dinner for as long as possible. That evening Kendall came over to play with Elliott and Miles, then TJ and I hung out with Stephanie and Spencer for over and hour when they came to pick her up.

May 25

Saturday was a work day! Tony has been working on updating our bedroom for my birthday off and on over the past few months. This weekend we had no games, practices, graduation parties or church commitments so he was able to finish most of the painting. He worked on the ceiling and walls while I specialized on the trim. The Svezias had Elliott over for most of the day, while Will spent the day mowing a few yards and then hanging out with the Bensons. In the evening Miles and Elliott asked TJ to push them on the swing along with neighbors Steffi and Mable.

2024 :: week 20

May 12

We had a pretty quiet Mother's Day. I got to sleep in, then Anthony made me scrambled eggs, toast and a yogurt parfait for breakfast. At church the primary kids sang and Miles not only went up with the other kids, but he sang! Anthony bribed him beforehand and told Miles he would make him a dessert of his choice if he would sing. The kids did great! I was proud as both primary president and mom. I took a bit of a nap when we got home and then we went to my parents' house for dinner. I feel like I am entering a new phase in my "mom-ing." I am proud of the responsible, capable kids Anthony and I get to parent. But as they get older and more independent they need me less (while at the same time my own parents need me more). For the better part of the past fourteen years I have had at least one very young child around me most of the day that relied on me to meet many of their needs. In a few months Miles will be starting all-day kindergarten and my days of getting things done with a toddler in tow are over. I used to look forward to the kids bedtime as the beginning of some "me time," but now my older kids go to bed around the same time I do. Any time I get to myself is during the day while they are at school. I guess the point of all of this is to say that the only constant is change and I while intellectually I know that to be true, I think I am finally starting to really believe it.

May 13

Lauren and several of her friends walked to our house after school to play some knockout. It seems that basketball has become the activity of choice during recess for the 6th grade girls. Most of them have never played on a team before, and they are having fun learning how to dribble and shoot together. 

May 14

Will's appetite has really grown this past year. Most nights between 9 and 10pm he starts jonesing for a snack. He often settles on either a huge bowl of applesauce, several ounces of cheddar cheese, or three slices of bread slathered with nutella. Sometimes he has more than one snack. But he always eats them while watching baseball on his phone.

May 15

Miles and I met Stephanie for lunch at Costco Wednesday. We've enjoyed many lunch dates at Costco over the years, and as the school year is coming to a close realized this might be the last one with just the three of us. Undoubtably we will meet up this summer, just with more kids. And when school starts up again Miles will be gone all day too.

May 16

Thursday after school Miles and I met Jill, Henry and Claire at Wonderscope and had a great time! It wasn't too crowded and the boys were able to play at most every exhibit.

May 17

Friday night the John family was spread out. Anthony took Will and the Benson twins to the Royals game. The boys paid for everything themselves--including Anthony's ticket!--with money they have earned mowing lawns this spring. Lauren spent the night at the Hagmans. Elliott had baseball practice, and Miles and I hung out at the park visiting with friends and playing. Afterwards we got McDonalds and paid a quick visit to Memaw and Pepaw. At bedtime Miles was sad and said he didn't like it when the whole family wasn't home together. 

May 18

Saturday morning I went to a baby shower for my friend Amanda. I am so grateful to be part of such a great community of moms. I love them and their kids. In other news, Anthony worked on painting the wall in our bedroom and Will went to a four hour training at Bluejacket for his cashier job.

2024 :: week 19

 

May 5

This year the primary children are singing "Mother, Do You Love Me?" in Sacrament Meeting on Mother's Day. The kids are singing the first verse, and Barbara is singing the "mother" verse. To make practice more engaging Kasey brought hats for each of the kids to wear while they sang. Each hat represented one of the many hats a mom has to wear--a graduation hat because mom's are smart, a police hat because mom's have to lay down the law, a ball cap because mom's spend a lot of time watching their kids play sports, etc. 

May 6

Cat and Sally came over for awhile after school Monday. Lauren crafted "nails" for them out of tape. Silly, creative girls.

May 7

Tuesday afternoon Miles and I met Jill, Henry and Claire at the Arboretum after school. The first Tuesday of every month the arboretum offers free admission, and because of this, these first Tuesdays are very crowded. I wasn't in the mood for so many people, but it was nice to be outside and enjoy the sunshine. I actually got a little burned on my neck, but the SPF in my face lotion did it's job and my face was fine.

May 8

Our flowers are starting to look pretty good. The excessive rain we've had this past month has made our yard look extra beautiful. The flowers look especially good against the bright green lawn. I finally got around to weeding our beds while I talked on the phone. Now we need to get new mulch and repaint the fence. 

May 9

Thursday evening was the first annual Indian Woods History Fair. Each of the 8th graders in Advanced Social Studies picked a historical topic to reseach during the 4th quarter. Kids chose things like Genghis Khan, Alexander Hamilton, the Battle of Verdun, the Chernobyl disaster, etc. Will chose the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. The kids had to have "artifacts" that represented their event. One of the artifacts Will used was a boot because when John Wilkes Booth jumped out of the presidential box and onto the stage his spur ripped the Treasury Guard Flag. He also printed some theatre tickets and "aged" them. He read Chasing Lincoln's Killer as part of his research. I read the book many years ago and remember enjoying it.

May 10

When Miles and I are out running errands, one way I try to curry favor with him is to let him climb in the van via the trunk. He likes to climb over the back seat and then up to his chair. It is quite possibly the least efficient way of executing this task, but that seems to be the way he likes to do things lately.

May11

Graduation season has begun, and this weekend we went to two graduation parties. In the morning we went to Derek's, and in the afternoon we went to Spencer's. My favorite part of graduation parties (besides celebrating the graduates), is running into mutual old friends. The snacks are fun too. In the evening I took Lauren shopping at Turn Styles and Plato's Closet to find some new shorts. Will mowed a lawn. TJ caulked our basement shower. It was a good day.

2024 :: week 18

April 28

Sunday evening I insisted on taking a quick photo of the boys with their freshly cut hair. Over the weekend I cut Anthony, Miles and Elliott's hair. Tony took Will to Great Clips for his cut because his style requests exceed my abilities. 

April 29

It is rare to have an evening go by when some combination of our boys aren't outside playing a quick game of baseball. Miles is starting to hold his own when he's up to bat too. It makes me feel so happy when I see the boys having fun together. I know I'll miss this when they're older and have more going on.

April 30

In 2020 Dana gifted me this clematis plant for my birthday. Every year since it has only produced one flower. This year it has already bloomed three flowers and there are a few more that look ready to blossom in the next week. I love spring flowers!

May 1

Miles loves to swing! I love watching him swing and I also love that he can pump and have a good time on the swing without me having to push him. He is becoming increasingly independent, for better and worse. I love the swing independence. I do not enjoy his insistence on buckling his own car seat independently at all. 

May 2

Lauren and the OPC choir performed Thursday evening. They sang four songs. "Are You Ready," "Let it Be," a Taylor Swift medley created by their choir director/music teacher, and "Row, Row, Row Your Boat," in round. They did a great job! Choir has been a bit of a grind this year. They meet Wednesdays and Friday before school from 7:30-8am, whereas last year they met after school once a week for an hour. Their choir director is very young and has a pattern of biting off more than she can chew. They spent so much time working on the Taylor Swift medley that they had to scrap their fourth song and sing "Row Your Boat," which many of the kids were upset about. 

May 3

Friday evening I took Will to KCK to cut our friend's lawn. A few months ago Will and his buddies Jude & Adrian came up with the idea to start a lawncare business to earn money to go to Royals games this summer. They made a flyer and website, and handed out flyers to neighbors in both our neighborhood and theirs. Anthony and I shared their flyer on facebook, and they posted their flyer online at Nextdoor and on the community board at the library. We love their initiative and willingness to work! They have been pretty successful too. This weekend alone Will worked on 3 lawns and earned over $100. 

May 4

We had a busy Saturday morning. I went to water aerobics. Anthony went to our ward EQ's "Men's Conference." Will had training for his pool cashier job. Elliott had a baseball game (he went 2 for 3, scoring twice and also pitched his team to victory). Saturday afternoon was the final hurrah for the Pink Thunder. We met at the green space behind Indian Valley Park for one last families vs. team scrimmage and picnic. The scrimmage was intense, with John family members scoring on both sides (Lauren-2, Dad-1), though ultimately the girls came out on top. There was plenty of delicious food, including two large plates of chick-fil-a nuggets that the John boys happily devoured. Genny's mom Heather collected photos from parents and "favorite memory" cards from the girls to make scrapbooks for Coach Luke and Coach Travis. Being a member of the Pink Thunder soccer team has been an amazing blessing and experience for Lauren. She has really grown as a soccer player. He coaches pushed and her and helped her gain confidence in herself. Her teammates have become great friends. I have learned a lot about soccer, including the rules. Pretty much the only rule I really knew before Lauren started to play was "no hands." Pictured in the team pyramid photo are Bottom--Genny B., Grace D., Kenzie M., Mattie S., Allie C., and Lauren. Middle--Taylor P., Annabelle R., Madelyn W., Reese P., and Sofia C. Top--Ella S. and Dailey F.)

2024 :: week 17

April 21

Sunday evening Anthony introduced Miles to the fine art of armpit farting. If the picture doesn't make it obvious, Miles thought it was hilarious. He was close to weeping, he could hardly contain his joy.

April 22

Monday evening Anthony helped Lauren with some difficult math homework because she was feeling very frustrated. Lauren is in the integrated math class and was tasked with figuring out surface areas, but had not yet been taught the Pythagorean Theorem. Anthony taught it to her and then she was able to get the correct answers. The next day her teacher confirmed that they needed to use the Pythagorean Theorem to get the correct answers and that the questions were in the wrong section of the textbook. 

April 23

Elliott has me bring a bat, ball and glove up to the park after school. If I am not there waiting at the bottom of the hill he and his friends come running to find us to get said baseball equipment. Elliott has a great group of buddies to play with at the park after school this year.

April 24

Miles and I met up with Leo and his family at the zoo after school on Wednesday. It was a gorgeous day, so of course it was crowded. We had to park the farthest away I've ever parked. We still managed to have fun. Our zoo experience included riding the train, playing at the playground, trying to feed the goats and being told they weren't doing that for the time being (some new zoo policy), feeding the camels instead, and riding the carousel. 

April 25

Wednesday evening Will played his euphonium at the South Area Band Festival. This is the biggest concert of the year, all the bands associated with Shawnee Mission South get together and perform in the SMS gym. The elementary school bands, middle school bands, and various high school bands all get a chance to play. This year Will's band played "Semper Fidelis," and a Michael Jackson Hit Mix. They also played "America the Beautiful," combined with the other bands. 

April 26

Friday evening marked the end of an era. The Pink Thunder played their final competitive game together, winning 7-1. Several of the girls scored, including Lauren, who scored a goal towards the end of the first half. With this win the girls secured their  A handful of the girls and a few of the parents were in tears as the team walked off the field together for the last time. Being part of this team has been a great experience for Lauren. Immediately after the game we headed to OPC for the annual carnival and had a blast. It was the best OPC carnival in our 9 years of attending.

April 27

Saturday morning Elliott played his first official game of baseball for the 2024 Spring Season. His team is playing "up," which means they are second graders playing against third graders. The kids are pitching for the first time, which always changes the nature of the game a bit. He was the starting pitcher, and pitched well. He gave up 2 runs and several hits (though there were a few fielding errors that allowed players to get to first base). He went 1 for 2 when up to bat, but didn't score. Elliott had a great attitude and I am excited to see how he develops this season. There was a mix-up with his uniform and he had to wear an orange shirt of Lauren's to match his team. We were out of town when they handed out uniforms, and then the head coach was out of town this week.